Ever and After
by Zluz
Summary: Charlie and Claire - along with baby Christopher - on the island. How the relationship between Charlie and Claire began.


**CHAPTER 1 – THE KISS**

Charlie awoke at the sound of a baby crying. At first he couldn't imagine which baby would be crying, but then he remembered; Claire had given birth two days earlier. He kept forgetting it, he still thought Claire was pregnant.

"Schh.. Don't worry, Chris. Mommy won't let anyone get near you. Schh.." Claire was a great mother. At least, according to Charlie, she was a fantastic mother. But not everybody shared his opinion. Some of the other survivors weren't sure she'd survive being a mother. But most of them agreed with Charlie. Even Shannon. She didn't really like the baby; he was too loud and gross. She assured Sayid she'd never be a mother herself. He was saddened by this news, but he was sure she'd change her mind. When time came. She was still very sad about her brother's tragic death, she spent most of her time crying, Sayid spent most of _his_ time comforting her.

"Claire? Can I help you with anything?" Charlie asked.

"Um, no, not unless you know how to find a dummy for him to suck on or a bottle of warm milk for him to drink," she answered him while Christopher kept crying. She looked very tired, as if she hadn't slept in days.

"Sorry, I don't…" Charlie was saddened he couldn't help. He wanted to help so badly, but he just couldn't. If he was the father, or if he and Claire were a couple, he could help her a lot more than now, when they were just friends. He wanted to ask her, but he was afraid of her saying no, and then not wanting to be friends afterwards. He felt like an outsider when she was talking to Christopher and having fun. He really wanted to play with him and help Claire go through with this. He felt like he could give a lot more if he was her boyfriend.

Charlie went back to his sleeping accommodation. Fell to sleep when he was sure Claire and Christopher had fallen asleep. He made a deal with himself; the next day he'd make Christopher a dummy.

* * *

When Claire woke up the next morning, she could hear Charlie sitting next to the crib she and Locke had made for Christopher. She heard him talking to Christopher, it sounded like it was his own child. She wanted him to be the father, she wanted him for her boyfriend, but she wasn't sure he wanted more than what they had now. Sometimes it felt like he was trying to get closer to her, but she wasn't sure.

"Charlie? What are you doing?" she asked him after lying there for some time, just watching him.

"I made him a dummy. He likes it. Watch," he answered as she got up and went to them. Christopher was lying in Charlie's arms, just looking up, staring at Charlie to see who he was.

"Aww, you're sweet. Thanks," she answered him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. She regretted it as soon as she'd done it. He looked chocked, as if he couldn't find out what she was doing.

"Um... Thanks... I gotta... Go, now. I wanted to ask... Jack if he needs help finding Locke. So, um, bye. Bye, Chris," he answered as he gave him to her. Claire was afraid she'd done something to make him angry or something like that, so she looked at Christopher and said; "I suppose he doesn't like me after all…"

* * *

"Hey, Jack!" Charlie yelled as soon as he saw Jack. He didn't want to lie to Claire, so he felt like he had to go looking for Locke.

"Yeah? What's the matter? Is something wrong?" he answered. In the eyes of Jack, Charlie looked like he had just seen a ghost.

"Um, no… I was just wondering; do you need help? You know, finding Locke? I want to help you, I really do. I know he saved my life and all, but he bloody killed Boone, so I think he should suffer."

"Well, we don't really need anybody else. But why don't you go help Claire with Chris? I think she'd appreciate some sleep," he said and walked away, leaving Charlie confused and not knowing what to do.

* * *

He found Claire and Christopher on the beach. They were sitting beneath an umbrella, watching Walt and Vincent playing catch.

"Hey. Where did you find the umbrella?" Charlie asked, standing next to them. Claire looked up and smiled.

"Hey. Marie gave it to me. You know, the sweet old lady whose son got killed by Ethan. It was something he'd left behind. She figured we'd probably need it since babies shouldn't get too much sun and it's hard not to get that much sun when we're on this island. But why are you here? I thought you were going in there to find Locke?" she said, motioning to the wood.

"Um… No, he didn't really need any help. But he advised me to volunteer taking care of Chris so you could get some sleep. You really look like you need some, you know…" he said while sitting down. Claire looked thoughtful for a moment, and then she agreed.

"Okay. One hour. You think you can handle that? But please, come with me to the caves, I'd feel a lot more secure knowing you guys were closer to me than me being there, you being here. Please?"

"Yeah, sure. If it makes you feel safer then why the bloody hell not?" They got up, Claire gave Christopher to Charlie and they walked off into the woods, back to the caves.

* * *

When they got back to the caves, Claire gave him a ton of information and instructions. A lot more than what you'd think – she _had_ only been a mother for forty-eight hours. She finally walked away after hugging both Charlie (he gave her some strange looks every time she tried) and Christopher about eight times, kissing Christopher _many_ times and making sure that Charlie knew what to do in case everything happened.

"I guess we're gonna have to bond, if I want anything to do with your mommy. Do you think she likes me? Cuz I sure don't, but that kiss she gave me toda… what's that look? And why do you smell like that…? Did you just take a dump! Oh god… Sun? Do you know how to change a diaper? I've never tried it, and the first bloody thing he does is that. Could he hate me more?" he said, walking towards Sun with Christopher in the arms, stretched as far out as they possibly could. She took him and found another 'diaper' – they were forced to use two old shirts as diapers since they didn't exactly have any real ones. There were no other babies on the island – at least not any they knew of.

"I don't think he hates you, Charlie. He would also have done it if it was his mother. Now look. You just take this off, like that, and clean him, like that, you like that, don't you little Chris? And then you take the other diaper, and you put it on him like this. Just take this side and this side, and then you take the last one and you make it stick like that. And then you're done. Now I'll take this off of him, and then you can try," she took the 'diaper' off again and let Charlie try it. After three tries, it actually stuck. The first try didn't even stick as long as baby Chris was lying down – the second stuck as long as you didn't pick him up and the third one stuck. But then he peed and Charlie had to change him again. This, in the eyes of Sun, looked very funny. The idea of him ever being a father was far away from his mind, you could tell that just by looking at his face. Sun, whose best friend back in Korea had become a mother a couple of weeks before they had gotten on the flight which was destined to crash, had become used to changing diapers, and had thought of Jin the first time he had seen the baby; he had a strange look and excused himself with some work he hadn't been able to finish which was _very_ important. Just then, she got very sad and remembered that time, before they were married, before Jin started working for her father, before he had gotten so weird around her. Back when he was, when she wasn't confused if he loved her or not, when she knew he did. She excused herself and ran away.

"Wonder what that was all about. Do you know? Oh, no, you're sleeping once again. When do you ever not sleep? Or eat? Or poop? Never, I guess. Oh, yeah, when you're yelling cuz you aren't sleeping or eating. But I guess you actually _are_ pretty sweet. So what do you say we go look at Uncle Charlie's guitar? I mean, I know you're sleeping and all, but c'mon," and they went, looked at the guitar and Charlie talked. Told the sleeping baby about his times in Driveshaft, how he got the idea for "You All Everybody," what he was doing in Sydney and how much he actually liked Claire, and didn't even notice the fact that Claire was standing right behind him, heard everything he told baby Christopher.

"Really? That's how you feel?" she asked. He was chocked to hear her voice, and he was no near prepared for it to be that close. At first he didn't really say anything. Then he began;

"Claire? Didn't hear you there. You're bloody quiet, you know that?"

"You aren't answering my question. Why aren't you answering my question?"

"Which question? How long have you been standing there anyway?"

"Long enough to hear you talking about your feelings for me to Chris. So is that really how you feel about me?"

"Um, yeah, I guess…"

"Then why did you react that way this morning when I gave you a kiss on the cheek? I thought you didn't really like me anymore – not even as a friend. But then you were actually in love with me. Why?"

"I don't know. I just… froze. I thought you didn't like me that way, I mean, I don't think you like me that way, I mean…"

"Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"I do. Like you. That way. I do."

"_That_, that way? Really? You sure?" he said, almost grinning.

"Yeah, _that_, that way. I just wasn't sure _you_ liked me like that. And then after this morning, I was even more confused," now he actually _was_ grinning. This had turned out to be the best day he had ever had while on that bloody island.

"Well, then… I guess… Or, well…"

"Yeah, me too…," she said. And they kissed. If it hadn't been for Christopher, they'd probably been kissing for some time, but after five seconds of their lips touching, he woke up and started screaming. Charlie and Claire flew apart and were now focused on little Christopher. Charlie quickly gave him to Claire and she started comforting him.

"Schh… Don't worry, mommy's here. Schh… Are you hungry? Is that it? Or did you make some poopy? No, you didn't make poopy. So are you hungry?" she questioned him over and over again about the same things, and Charlie walked away, tried to find Hurley. He had to tell this to somebody.


End file.
